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Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Five things |
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| BroHanif |
| 02/18/03 at 18:53:48 |
| Salaams, A quick question to everyone on the board, you've lived your whole life in Dewsbury, Albany, Singapore or whatever land. Your frutrated and perhaps a bit eeeed off in your society about the lack of interest in Islam. Name five things that if you had the necessary resources would like to see an improvement in terms of Islaam to where you live. I've come to the thought that our communities be they in England, Far East and other places have started to become mirrors for each other, I hope to be proven wrong in my analysis. For example, we have real lack of leaders, creativity, poor dawah centers, new ideas and thoughts, resources and above all people with the real fikr to get things off the ground, anyway I'll list my five ideas on improvements soon, let me know yours. Salaams Hanif |
| NS |
| Re: Five things |
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| sister2sister |
| 02/19/03 at 02:28:22 |
| ummmmmmmmmm I would like to see more Islamic Universities in the US. When I think of the other four I'll post it. YSII :-) |
| Re: Five things |
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| jannah |
| 02/19/03 at 03:22:33 |
I would loooooooove to see: 1. All the elders retire or at least apprentice younger people to take over 2. Substantial money and resources towards youth programs ages 5-15 3. An Eid shurah - one eid one place 4. A social hall that would hold at least 500 people for eid's and weddings 5. A social services organization ie for women, children, issues about divorce, adoption, marriage counseling etc the most important thing i wish i could see is "united hearts". |
| Re: Five things |
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| Shahida |
| 02/19/03 at 05:37:59 |
| [slm] Excellent topic bro...let's hope not all Muslim communities are suffering the same, I pray things are better in other parts of the world inshaAllah. Ok, we have about 1-2 million Muslims in this country mashaAllah, huge Muslim communities BUT... I would like to change the following: 1) If I could change JUST ONE THING in this world, I would educate the women!!!! All-encompassing education, cuz if they can't read English, no way will they be able to understand even the English-translation of the Quraan. This education would include the empowerment of these women, so that if they want to read the commentary of the Quraan or have access to Islamic literature, they should be free to do so. Their education should not be dependent on anyone who wishes to teach them only their version of Hislam or Islamism, they should be free to discover TRUE Islam under righteous guidance- not just going to weekly Ta3leem sessions in which they "read" (mostly just pretend, cuz they were taken out of school too early to be able to read properly) from the book called "fadha'il A3maal" (good book but by no means comprehensive or enough) and discuss 6 points of Tabligh...that's all they do. It is forbidden to discuss anything else. (i could go on and on, my biggest problem here is how disenfranchised and oppressed the women are, and I thank Allah for everything I have) 2) Start teaching all the kids to be proud to be MUSLIM first and attack the festering racism so rife between the Indian, Malay, African and immigrant communities. (I don't think the older people are open to the fact that we are all equal, sub7anAllah, but inshaAllah, it should be possible with the kids right? Ameen, ya Rabb al 3aalameen) 3) Get qualified Muslim leaders who actually speak to women ! And can do counselling and social work in addition to their other duties, incl marriage counselling and deal with the problems of divorce, drug abuse, HIV/AIDS and other things that we know are there but we just ignore on a daily basis, becuz "we are muslims, and you know, muslims dont have such problems!"...:( 4) Develop social outlets where our youth can "entertain" themselves halaal-ly instead of resorting to the clubs and discos. People often say, well there's nothing else to do here, we might as well go out and have some fun, Islam is so boring. I know there are many things to keep us busy that do not involve anything Haraam, so a youth centre maybe or something like that around the mosque complex (oh and please, "youth" is a genderless word, girls are included in this too...) 5) Set up a social networks of people willing to visit and take care of the marginalised Muslims (prisoners, elderly, homeless, widows etc). Especially encourage the young people to be active in such activities. We have few people who actually even know there are Muslims in prison, and have needs too, and especially, they need to know that the Muslim community outside has not forsaken them. Have tons of other things to say, maybe Bro Hanif will allow me to add another 5 at another time (pwetty pweez?) ...this was what I could come up with right now. (Jannah, we have halls that can take thousands!!! of people, so maybe you wanna move here!;) ) Salamat Shahida :-) |
| Re: Five things |
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| Halima |
| 02/19/03 at 06:11:33 |
| My sentiments are almost like Jannah but let me add/improvise on her's the following way: {1. All the elders retire or at least apprentice younger people to take over} Here the heads of the different Mosques and Muslim Councils, e.g. the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (SUPKEM) are still in the dark ages mentality wise. To them, the Deen is practised in as much as it suits men with vague interpretation given to the Rights of Women in Islam or sometimes these rights being ignored completely. And the mentality is more cultural across the board. Hence, emphasis is given to a woman's obligation to her spouse, etc., without the man's obligation being highlighted or emphasized. We need younger people who will practise the Deen as it should be practiced, without favouritism, i.e. {2. Substantial money and resources towards youth programs ages 5-15} You will not believe the amount of money Muslim organization and charities are given by the Saudi government, the Kuwaiti government, etc. None of these are used for youth programmes! We have Islamic Children Home(s) whose conditions are so dilapitated you would be embarassed. {3. An Eid shurah - one eid one place} The kind of satisfaction and happiness that comes from having Eid in one place is unbelievable. You see the pride of Muslims on their faces when this happens. The Eid Al-Adha celebrations was one such occassion recently. {4. A social hall that would hold at least 500 people for eid's and weddings} Yeah, definitely. The Sir Ali Muslim Club is big but the Muslim population in Nairobi is growing and when everbody got to the club for Eid prayers, the whole place shrunk. {5. A social services organization ie for women, children, issues about divorce, adoption, marriage counseling etc } Women here need this very badly. The was a Muslim Sisters Network but somehow, it has just died a natural death. {The most important thing i wish i could see is "united hearts".} May Allah listen to your wish on this and grant it to us, INSHA-ALLAH. The one positive thing we have is an Islamic Radio Station (FM) called Iqra. You can not believe how proud and happy the Muslims here are about it. It covers everything regarding our Deen and during Ramadhan, there were quizes and competitions for Muslim children on the Qu'ran, the Hadith, the Prophet's Sunna [saw]. The station opens at 5:00 a.m. in the morning and closes after midnight. And every morning, it opens with a recitation of the 99 names of Allah, the Qu'ran, the Hadith (Bukhari and Mulsim), prayers for getting out of the house, for going to work, for travelling, translation of the Surahs and Ayas of the Qu'ran in both English and Kiswahili, Qasidas, etc. till 7:00 a.m. I hope that we will have an Islamic TV Channel soon, INSHA-ALLAH. There is already a Christian one among the various media TV channels. [slm] Halima |
| Re: Five things |
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| Maliha |
| 02/19/03 at 09:35:21 |
| [slm] I would looove for Allah to facilitate for us: a) Our own Media outlets...Full control of the various channels of communication. b)Orphanages and Islamic Immigrations Services to help people who are migrating to the West. A lot of Christian services do this and the results of the indoctrination never fails to be seen ::) An Afghani woman and her five children were relocated to our community. No attempt was made to contact anybody at the center was made. There names were changed (told that they needed Christian Middle names to be in the states), Christmas trees delivered to their house with gifts, and invitations to go to church on sundays! It wasn't until a long while later that the family finally discovered the Islamic center... I think too, something like a welcoming/orientation counselling services for immigrants coming to western countries will be nice...English as a Second language classes to be held, classes on community involvement *(this is almost non existant in other countries)... c) Turning Masajids into centers of learning, strategic planning, and communal Ibadah. I always imagine walking into the Masjid to see groups of brothers huddled over different aspects of the deen, studying Tassawuf, Philosophy, Quran, Hadith, etc. I see women on the other side, discussing, challenging, praying...Children huddled around the Imam, learning Quran, etc...People exchanging notes, encouraging eachother, asking about each other etc. Going to the Masjid on any day but Friday and Taraweeh is depressing to say the least :( d)Nurturing our children's hearts...Developing a strong foundation for them to be raised upon...Gearing them towards Islamified everything...modes of thinking, activities, books, etc. Raising a generation of warriors who would propagate Islam in ways we could never dream of. Inshaallah. e)Networking...on All Levels. Inter class networking, Inter generation networking, Inter Community networking, Global Networking...even Intra community networking (which is I guess what we need to start with)... I like Jannah's United hearts dream...cuz without united hearts, we have the situation of our Ummah today! I have soo much more to write...but you asked for five...i think we need a lot..and truly the foundation is strengthening ourselves and everything else will come together. Allah will make a way for us Inshaallah. Sis, Maliha :-) [wlm] |
| Re: Five things |
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| merimda |
| 02/20/03 at 00:54:19 |
| Salam, -I would like to reform our Islamic schools. -Create a real extensive Islamic library that is accessible to everyone. -I would like to see a balanced and holistic Islamic education at an academic level offered for free. salam, merimda |
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